Spring Break: Day 3 - The Museums of Florence

We had a 10:30am reservation at the Ufizzi this morning so we were on a schedule to rise, pack up, have breakfast and check out. It was not as nice a day as the prior two, but breakfast overlooking the Duomo was still enjoyable. This morning, we also could peer down from the hotel’s terrace and watch the Renaissance style Easter parade.

Once in the courtyard of the Museum, we wondered what advantage the reservation afforded us – other than paying an extra 4euro per ticket. There was still a line to pick the tickets up and pay for them; and initially the ticket office for those without reservations had no line. There is some construction going on in the courtyard that added to the confusion of which ticket office and which line one should be standing in. As the minutes ticked by, it kept getting more and more crowded. Inside the museum, it certainly did not feel like anyone gets turned away, ever – with reservation or not. The painting galleries, particularly the Botticelli room, were jammed. We took frequent breaks with Avery on the benches along the main corridor wall. We managed to spend two hours in the Uffizi, but if Avery had had his way it would have been two minutes.

Time for lunch before our next appointment. At 2:30pm we had a reservation at the Accademia to see THE DAVID. This allowed us time to stroll up to the Piazza SS Annuciata where we wandered into the Church. No admission fee for this one where a service for Easter was taking place. The church itself was beautiful inside.

Once in front of the Accademia entrance, guess what? More lines, more groups, more Disneyland. Unlike the world of Disney, however, the staff here was not kid friendly – in fact the guards at the door were downright rude. I felt like a “wanna-be” standing behind the red velvet rope of a nightclub where the bouncer had discretion over whom he did or didn’t let it. Once we were finally allowed to go and pay for our tickets. We tried to forego the “reservation” fee and were yelled at some more. In the end, the woman who actually took our tickets at the entrance saw how rudely we were being treated and got her manager involved. To make a long story short, the people who work outside the museum have nothing to do with the people who work inside the museum (different unions?), and Josh was asked to fill out a complaint – which he did. But first we saw “The Prisoners” that were missing from Pope Julius II’s tomb in San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. If you recall, Michelangelo never completed these sculptures for the Pope’s tomb. It was actually fascinating to see the figures partially cut from the blocks of marble.

Then, the piece de la resistance -- The David. My skepticism was abated. No matter what I thought beforehand, none of the copies can do this masterpiece justice. When you see it here in this setting, you get the genius of Michelangelo.

We walked through the rest of the museum, but nothing appeared all that interesting after David. Of course, when we left the building, Josh let the “bouncers” know that he’d filed a complaint with the Museum and they looked not too happy.

It was finally time for Josh to “pay the piper” so to speak, and go to the pound to pick up our car. Upon arriving, he found out that he was not ticketed for parking illegally, but rather because he didn’t have a resident’s permit to park within the Florence city walls at all! In the meantime, I walked the kids back to the hotel with a gelato stop along the way.

So, we loaded up the car and drove up to the Piazzale Michelangelo. At this point, it had started to rain. We’d been very lucky that it had held off all day until this point, as now we were ensconced in our car. Josh and Charlotte stepped out to see the view over Florence from this perspective – despite the low cloud cover and rain. Just above the Piazzale is the Chiesa di San Miniato in Monte. I climbed the stairs to have a peak.

This side of the town of Florence is leafy and green with some beautiful villas. I wonder if the residents try to avoid crossing over to the other side of the Arno? We were happy to be leaving town ourselves. The crowds, the congestion of humanity, the surliness of some of the locals, we didn’t think we’d be rushing back to Florence any time soon. Charlotte, on the other hand, liked it. She found it cleaner (which it is), more stylish (which it is), and smaller (also true) than Rome.

Now we were off to Lucca – or at least the agriturismo where we’d be staying outside of Lucca. Unfortunately, during the drive, Charlotte didn’t respect Josh’s request to keep it down. Another bit of ugliness with Charlotte ensued whereby we had to stop the car and ask her to get out for a while.

Once we found Casa Rossa (which was not easy), we decided that she would not be joining us for dinner. Well, that did not sit well with her! Instead of accepting the punishment for her misbehavior in the car (after all, in our absence she could read, watch TV, play her DS, etc.) she made it nearly impossible for us to leave. It was not a pretty picture.

We found a pizza place open for dinner. Being Easter in the country, we did not have many options. But Il Sole Mio turned out to be great; and run by some very nice guys from Naples. It was still raining when we got back into the car after dinner. I’m expecting a muddy morning on the farm tomorrow.